


from the soul

by notavodkashot



Series: FFXV one shots [8]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Study, Demon AU, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-29
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2019-03-10 23:01:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13511553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notavodkashot/pseuds/notavodkashot
Summary: Ignis is pretty sure that up until yesterday he was the only supernatural being in their quartet. And yet here Prompto is today. Clearly not as human as he was yesterday and hiding it terribly.





	from the soul

Some demons are born, Ignis thinks, dragged screaming into existence by hatred and misery and magic gone gone so wrong it doesn’t end so much as flourish. Ignis does not remember a time when he wasn’t what he is, every tiny speck of inhuman-ness neatly tucked within his skin, prowling in the shadows of the Citadel, feeding off the vast array of emotions clustered there. Then there was the Prince, a tiny niblet of a boy, emotions so consistently pale it was hard not to notice him, and then that prodigious Lucis Caelum magic, anchoring him right where he is.

Ignis was born being what he is, and he chose his service to the young Prince out of curiosity and sincere liking, and perhaps a not insignificant amount of amusement at the current King’s objections to the arrangement, too. He’s done his duty well, protecting the boy from the outside and himself with equal fervor, and he relishes in his own nature as he goes about his business, because why shouldn’t he?

But, and this is the important bit, Ignis also knows that demons can be  _made_. It’s an unsavory business, of course, making humans into something they’re not, but it’s certainly possible. Ignis saw it, from time to time, back in Insomnia, at the borders of the city where the pristine mirage fell to pieces and the ugliness beneath boiled over to the surface. It takes a special kind of person, to fester in them all the right ingredients, and then a truly capricious mood to strike an Astral, to provide the spark of divinity required to fundamentally change the core of someone’s being. Until yesterday, Ignis would have said, with all certainty that none of the Prince’s retinue - himself excluded - could be considered capable of such things.

And then, there’s Prompto, proving him quite wrong as he curls up under the covers in his corner of the tent, trying valiantly to stop himself from bursting into flame at the drop of a hat. Ifrit’s power, then, Ignis surmises, as he pulls the boy into his arms and tucks his head into his shoulder.

“What have they  _done_ to you?” Ignis asks, body purposely cold to quench some of the heat oozing out of Prompto’s.

Prompto basks in the hold and refuses to give name to what he endured, during his short… stay with the Empire, taken as he was, alongside the Regalia after Titan’s trial. It doesn’t matter, Ignis reckons, not really. Retribution tends to sort itself almost on its own, when demons are involved.

**Author's Note:**

> Come hang out on [DW](https://notavodkashot.dreamwidth.org/) or [Twitter](https://twitter.com/notavodkashot), if you'd like.


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